Autopilot
by your-biohazardous-friend
Summary: Post season 5. Kix was ready to call it a day, but it turned out he had one more patient to take care of.
1. peculiar discovery

**Disclaimer:** Star wars franchise belongs to many people and companies from Gorge Lucas to Disney, however I'm not among them.

 **A/N:** there is no Anakin Skywalker in this work, in any of the chapters. This story is mainly about Ahsoka and the clone troopers (it sounds like a name of a band!). If you seek stories containing Anakin feels, this work will, most likely, not quench your thirst.

* * *

Kix entered the barrack angrily, kicking helmets lying on his way. he was ready to call it a day, having enough of his brothers' whining and moaning and guilt tripping him from Coruscant to Tipoca City. He was fed up with hearing how lousily set bones and quickly sewed; inflamed wounds eaten raw by infections were _just a scratch_ or _just a flesh wound_. Sometimes Kix wandered if his brothers respected his medical expertise at all or had him around just for his medkits and sick leaves.

No more mister nice clone!

Doctor is out!

He sighed tiredly, stretching his neck and hearing familiar popping of vertebras as they shifted with every move.

There was a faint movement in the corner of his eye followed by a sleepy moan. He froze, mid-gesture, his hand slowly crept to his blaster. There was something or someone curled up in the captain's bed. Kix was sure it wasn't Rex himself as he just saw the man giving an earful to some shinies who goofed up training. Although in the semi-darkness, the shape looked familiar, Kix approached the blanket cocoon with caution, expecting everything and anything. The medic carefully took the rim of the fabric and peeked inside.

It was Ahsoka.

The clone was taken aback. What was she doing here?

Togruta's disappearance was a mystery to whole GAR, or at least to _five-oh-first_. For the first time, General Skywalker was uncooperative, withholding information about that matter. Even Rex, informally delegated by the rest of the Torrent Company to snoop around, came empty-handed - the chosen one acted as if he never had a padawan in the first place.

But Clones didn't forget, as they never forgot about their fallen brothers. One squadron even decided to commemorate Ahsoka in form of a nose art of their gunship. They really outdid themselves, as it was, undoubtedly, an excellent piece of art. Even Rex, who was never really into nose artworks himself, would drop by from time to time just to look at the painting. The captain could stare at it for hours, as in trance, with strangely glossy eyes. If caught, he would put his helmet back on in a flash and praise, in somewhat shaky voice, well-captured likeness of the ex-commander. Unfortunately, the nose art had to be removed after General Skywalker saw it and threw a fit.

Kix had no doubt that the sleeping togruta girl was their Ahsoka, yet there was something odd about her features. In some ways, she looked like a shadow of her former self. Her cheeks were hollower, skin had ashen-orange hue, she wasn't starved but looked as if she hadn't eaten enough or not well enough. The medic doubted that in her state anything would wake her up, not even a whole army of rusty _clankers_ marching on glassware.

Kix took off his gloves and, more bravely now, checked her vitals. She had a fever, that's for sure. He reached for his backpack, and took out a medkit, with already torn-out sealing so he wouldn't need to report using it outside the battlefield. The clone swiftly loaded the pneumatic dispenser with necessary vials and applied the concoction to the girl's skinny arm.

The medic took a while to observe the medication kicking in: how the togruta's tensed muscles loosened, how shivering stopped, how the girl sighed relieved in her sleep as the temperature dropped to her usual colder-than-human's levels.

Kix didn't hear approaching man, too mesmerized by the girl's presence.

"Kix can you-?"the medic turned around, caught totally off guard.

Behind him stood captain Rex.

"is that?" Rex threw himself forward, shunning the medic aside.

Captain's leg guards racketed against a cold floor as he knelt beside his own bed.

"how?"

" _Autopilot_ , I guess"

"you guess?"

Kix only shrug his arms in reply.

"did she say anything?" Rex asked frantically "Where does she works? Where she lives?"

"She was out cold, sir." Kix admitted, "I just administrated her some meds."

Rex looked at him with dread written all over his face.

"A cold" Kix patted his brother's shoulder reassuringly "I presume it's her first time getting sick outside the temple, got scared, autopiloted to us."

"She a civilian now" Rex stated the obvious.

"Maybe she has an ID or business card-?"

The captain nodded; he slowly peeled the blanket off her, searching for any indication where his ex-commander currently resides. Ex-Jedi was wearing something similar to what waitresses at _79's_ wore. So… she was working at a canteen or a restaurant of some sort. Although they were hoping she would end up as a bodyguard of some rich senator, it didn't surprised them at all: the girl was agile, quick-witted and capable. She would have no problem juggling plates, outsmarting drunken customers and even throwing them out of the establishment if necessary. Rex found her wallet but it was bare except couple of credits - Most likely a spare change for a fair or a taxi. That was it, no IDs, business cards or even a scribble on piece of paper.

They were on their wits end. She could work and live anywhere at Coruscant.

Unless…

"Get Commander Fox" the captain ordered, "it's time for him to redeem himself"


	2. 7567

Rex carefully wrapped Ahsoak up in his blanket and picked her up. She was a little bit taller and lighter than he remembered. Upon Commander Fox arrival, the captain fetched Kix to assemble a sufficient food ration and medical relief aid. The red-clad commander truly outdid himself and went full-on search mode. In a flash, he recognized the uniform of a small diner at the lower-levels of the city where he ate once or twice with his squad.

"they have great caf and pies" He claimed "food is not bad either especially stakes"

With that remark, he narrowed his search into couple of buildings that were available by public transportation with tickets costing no more than what Ahsoka had in her wallet. The results were even more precise by matching the estimated date of the ex-commander leave, with the arrival of the new tenants. At the end, they could check the whole parameter in a matter of two hours, just in time to drop the ex-jedi to her own bed before she even woke up from her medication-induced slumber or anyone noticing both clones missing.

Kix came back soon after the debriefing, laden with backpacks… and Jesse by his side. The other clone had his helmet in his hands; it was clinking quietly as he was jogging alongside the medic.

"what's that?" Rex gestured in his direction.

"Fund-raise!" Jesse exclaimed in a juvenile tone and tipped his _bucket_ to reveal rectangle coins filling it to the brim.

"a what?"

"once I squeezed out all the information from Kix, I run around a mess hall, sir." Jesse replied proudly "Guys gave me every credit they had on themselves"

Rex nodded, gesturing the medic to take Jesse's helmet as engines of Commander Fox's aircraft came to life.

"Fives swore he'll cover your backs if necessary!" Jesse shouted after them, waving his arms like a madman "just make sure she's all set!"

Rex watched as the younger clone run back to the mess hall. For the first time since Ahsoka disappearance, his brother acted… livelier.

"I wonder how much money he managed to accumulate" Kix wondered aloud playing with the gold-plated rectangles.

"Doesn't look much" Rex replied bitterly "it seems to be all petty change"

"that's the summary of our pay all right" Kix joked "I won't mind avoiding _79's_ for couple of weeks as long as commander Tano has at least few days of free rides home." the medic added awkwardly.

"yeah… I guess you're right"

The rest of the trip passed in silence. Rex kept quiet for the whole time, stroking the girl's lekkus delicately, as if they were made of the most fragile porcelain, like this caf set with tiny blue flowers that Rex once drank from during one of his bodyguard gigs for senator Amidala. The same set General Skywalker broke later that year almost bringing the senator to tears.

Fox dropped them off nearby the most probable destination with a list of the rest possible apartments matches downloaded to their HUDs. The ghetto was a hellhole: Offensive tags covered walls, doors were barely working or were broken out of their frames, not to mention an overwhelming smell of piss and digested alcohol the made both clones gag.

They knocked to several doors. Half-starved individuals with hollow eyes occupied most of apartments, Rex could have sworn they accidentally interrupted someone's suicide, while some doors didn't opened at all - their inhabitants were too scared to even check who's on the other side.

Suddenly an old woman emerged from one of the doors and cut their path, with one swift strike, she hit the captain in a shin with her cane.

"who are you?" she screamed "what are you doing to my Ashoka?"

There was possessiveness in her voice. Rex didn't like that at all.

"we're her friends" Kix replied in his mellow tone of a medic.

"she has no friends! She is all alone. Has only me!" the woman wailed "ME! such a fine soul going to such a waste"

"We were searching for here across the galaxy" Rex replied harshly "we're her brothers and she didn't even say goodbye to us-" the clone captain said, quieter now, more sorrowful "she just disappeared"

"You've abandoned _her_ " the woman spat "you could have _search better_!"

"Don't argue, sir." Kix whispered to his superior's ear "that woman obviously had lost it"

"walls are thin" the woman continued her wailing "I could hear her crying every night"

"we just want to put Ahsoka to her bed, so she could rest properly. There is no harm in that. Isn't there, ma'am?" Kix inquired softly. "Tell us, what's her apartment number?"

Rex realized his subordinate was using the same tone of voice on their dying brothers… obviously; it also worked on old, crazy ladies.

"you are right, sonny. There is no harm in that." the woman finally replied, coaxed by the medic's soft approach "Ahsoka lives just right next to me - under _7567_ "

Hearing that number, Rex came to attention.

"We have our autopilot designation," Kix said under his breath "she must have confused her apartment number with your birth designation" the medic addressed his superior.

Rex's laugh was hollow and cold… just like the apartment the ex-Jedi was living in.

Ahsoka's home was empty and small. The heating was busted, air-conditioning none existing. Captain regretted not taking back up with him, yet he didn't anticipated Togruta's apartment to be _this_ bad. It looked as if Ahsoka was squatting in here not living.

Kix was already in his zone: unpacking the backpacks, filling cupboards with dehydrated food rations, stocking shelves with medpacks and medkits. The medic even found a broom and gave the floor a testing sweep, it didn't do much: dirt and grease permanently dotted the bare surface.

"kriff!" The medic swore in annoyance "I bet if we poured disinfectant that Kaminioans use to clean birth pods with, the floor would stay pretty much the same!"

Rex found a bed jammed at the back of the living area and gently put here on there - although term _bed_ was used rather loosely. He involuntary reached for the covers to tuck her in. There was no linen. The ex-jedi was literally sleeping on a bare mattress. The captain decided to leave his own blanket behind. He wouldn't mind getting pneumonia as long as he knew Ahsoka wouldn't freeze to death in this hellhole.

"it's all right comma- Ahsoka" Rex whispered, more to himself than to her, taking off her boots.

The blond clone glanced over at his brother; right now Kix was boiling water in a mess-tin, which was apparently the only pot Ahsoka owned, adding soup mixes and other secret-instant-fixes-spices-whatever to it. The room started to smell of food, warming if not the temperature itself, then mood of this run down place. Rex poured credits from Jesse's helmet into one of the teen's boots for safekeeping.

"I think we have to be going" the captain ordered, after a while of silence "There is nothing more we can do in such circumstances"

The medic nodded, turned the oven off and started to clean after himself.

"Kix fixed you something hot to eat" Rex tucked the teenager in "once you wake up, the broth will be waiting for you"

Ahsoka only stirred in her sleep and murmured something incoherently in, what seemed to be a reply.

"We will see each other again, I promise" Rex claimed solemnly.

He picked up Jesse's helmet from the floor.

Both clones left their friend's apartment with empty backpacks and heavy hearts.


	3. Epilogue part I: apartment

**Epilogue**

 _Part I_

In first couple of hours after dropping out of Jedi temple Ahsoka wanted to come back to the old life more than she could count and just as many times, plus one, she had to remind herself that it wasn't happening. The moment she reached the last step of the stairs leading to the temple she felt truly alone: Without friends, family, perspective, money and without a job. Of course, in the next hour, Padme commed her with a proposition: she, as always, needed a maid-slash-bodyguard - seemingly a perfect job for an ex-jedi. Ahsoka refused, se knew the senator acted on Anakin's behalf – how could she get the info so fast if it wasn't the case?

Ahsoka had to decline the offer - she had to cut the umbilical cord linking her to the old life. Staying with Padme meant staying with Anakin, and keeping in touch with Anakin was like staying with the Order. Jedi were train to let go without a hitch. They were trained to not have ties at all. She knew she would misss everyone immensely - her clan-mates, friends and mentors. She already missed Skyguy's brashness, master Plo Koon's soft approach, Obi-Wan's stoicism and Yoda's wisdom. She missed clones. Troopers, to the contrary to the jedi, were like ducklings. They imprinted on the people who were their commander officers, respected them and their individuality. Once that connection formed, they were ready to die for it, be it a jedi, fellow trooper, a child or even an animal.

Ahsoka hoped Rex would understand her decision. That her master, for the first time in his career, would challenge the issue rather than suppress it, and explain the boys what has triggered her to leave them hanging.

Running away from the troopers had proven to be harder than she anticipated. Not only because commander Fox's watchful eye kept the streets safe but also as Ahsoka found herself tapping her wrist numerous times in order to comm anyone from Torrent Company – a group she no longer belonged to. During the first days outside the order, ex-jedi realized that those exact replicas of one man taught her more than she ever thought they would. Rex was, once again, right: _experience really outranked everything_ :

Keep your sentences short and to the point. Respect dress code. Always boil water before drinking. For every level, there is another clanker. Don't touch exposed wiring with wet hands, scratch that, don't touch exposed wiring at all. During food poisoning, take one sip of water every ten minutes to avoid dehydrating yourself. Sometimes it's better to use flamethrower rather than to complain about the darkness. If your boss is like general Skywalker try to reason with him, if he's like Krell - change the job immediately if killing him is not an option and the most of all: Fake it till you make it to the safe haven.

Their wisdom never led her astray.

Finding a job was much harder than she anticipated. She tried to deny even a single though about upcoming job search. Courscan jobcenters were in disarray at best, their employees did their job sloppily and didn't gave a rat's ass about customers' experience, all they cared about was their education. Jedi Order didn't hire – no senator would force the Order to bend the rules and once you're out of the Order, you're out.

" _Kriffin'_ war" Ahsoka would often murmur as she stood in a line to receive yet another blank page of job opportunities "Padme should cure that rotten to the core jobcenter system rather than fixating over the war economics."

Ahsoka sighed painfully, she, of all people, knew all too well that war needed the founding, as clones needed equipment and supplies in order to survive on the battlefield.

She sometimes fantasized about the end of the war. maybe Plo Koon would finally take a padawan? Ahsoka hated the HoloNetNews but it was the only way to learn about causalities on the battlefront. The worst part of the platform was how they addressed the clones, if they did at all, by their _CT-_ numbers. Ahsoka had a hard time remembering the numbers in the first place, maybe except Rex, his digits were like a mantra to her… and maybe Fives – he was, quite literally, named after his birth numbers. She could line up Jesse's if she tried hard enough, but Kix… he was a mystery to her!

It took her several months to end up at a small diner she now worked at. It was ironic really, Ahsoka remembered it from that one time she went there with commander Fox. He praised the establishment's caf and he was right - the brew was superb. The place was nothing how she remembered it, thought. It still had an high quality food but with exquisite restaurants popping up like mushrooms at Kashyyk on the upper levels, the establishment lost it's luxurious reputation and let itself go… just like it's owner. Master Plo used to say that _the food cart always reflects it's vendor_ , although it must have been one of those sayings that were true in both metaphorical and literal sense as Plo Koon used to say that about Anakin and 501st.

Ahsoka's new boss, miss Okrasa Omasta, was the Ortolan female who, at the time Ahsoka started to work in her establishment, was devastated after loosing her clientele. That, unfortunately, exposed her alcoholic tendencies. So, ex-jedi employment was at the whims end as the business was on a verge of bankrupt. Everything was going down the drain.

Sickness was like a cherry on the top of miserable and bitter cake. When Ahsoka felt sore and feverish during her shift, she feared for the worst. She left her work with heavy heart and mentally embracing herself for days of torment full of clogged nose, aching muscles and fever.

To her surprise, she woke up just fine, but in slightly different reality. As if someone shifted it while she was asleep.

Her dream was different than her usual grim visions of Jesse stabbed with three-pointed pitchfork by some malnourished freedom fighter, Rex having a bandage on the right side of his head and Kix standing proudly in front of the firing squad. This time she dreamt about Rex and Kix hosting a holo-program where they're traveling from household to household to teach the residents how to properly clean and maintain their houses. In that peculiar dream, both troopers wore pastel-coloured aprons over their plastoid armors and Kix was always the one who swept the floors.

When she woke up, she suspected she was still dreaming or having feverish hallucination. Yet smell of food in the air and a blanket wrapped around her felt too real.

It was real.

She sat, cross-legged, on her bed under the gray fabric, sipping spoonfuls of warm broth. Food rations were stacked in a cupboard and medkits! So many of them! If she didn't know any better she would have sworn Kix snuck up at night and tried to turn her apartment into safe haven. Seriously, that medic was obsessed with medical supplies and handed them like candy to anyone who had at least a cubic centimeter of space in their backpacks.

Ahsoka shrugged. If war did taught her anything it definitely was that _Force works in mysterious ways_ and _if something is presented to you - take it, if you're being hit – run away._

The alarm of her clock brought her out of musing. Togruta quickly sprung out of her bed. She has to go now or she would be late to her job.

In a hurry, she kicked her boots off the way, with clinking the shoe tipped over spilling credits over the floor. Ahsoka watched the golden mount with widened eyes. Upon closer inspection it was a collection of a petty change – nothing much, it could cover monthly ticket for a speeder bus at best. She had no time to count the rectangle coins now! Ahsoka wrapped the money in the blanket and threw it under the bed. for safe keeping.

The teenager tackled the doors, running past the old, crazy lady. She had no time listening to woman's bizarre tale about twin brothers harassing her yesterday's night.

"Oh force, I must have been out cold yesterday" Ahsoka mused.

The old lady was always very vocal about any of her complaints so the ex-jedi always knew what was happening next doors. Unfortunately, walls are thin in this building.


	4. Epilogue part II: Okrasa's Diner

**Epilogue**

 _Part II_

"I've overheard commander Fox recommending this place to captain Rex" one of the customers said at the doors "he says they have excellent caf"

"well it does not look like it" the other, having the exact same voice, replied.

"General Yoda doesn't look like a capable fighter either."

"Touché, Dixit, touché"

That two shinies marked the _Omasta's diner_ 's reborn. It started slow: one or two troopers here and there – not a big deal – Ahsoka didn't even know them and they didn't know her - they must have joined GAR after her disappearance. She chatted with them, trying to fish out the information about the war and well-being of her friends. The shinies must have liked the food as more clones started to appear. They had one thing in common: all of them were hungry for soups, steaks, cups of caf and pieces of pies. It was quickly visible that both 79's and _Omasta's diner_ shared the customers fairly: the first one was for fun and letting off steam the latter was for replenishing calories and conserving taste buds after months of tasteless ration bars diet.

The life came back to the small diner. The never-ending clusters of clone troopers were like blank blasters to hoodlums, drunks and shady death sticks dealers that orbited around the place for quite some time.

"ermm… boss?" Ahsoka asked one day, the radio was broadcasting a soothing tune of space opera "what about we make a discount for clones?"

"what for?" the Ortolan asked.

Ahsoka almost froze under her employer's chilling gaze. The gradual change of the place turned out to be therapeutic for Okrasa Omasta, however she was still bitter about hosting mainly military grunts.

In reply to her endless complains, Ahsoka discretely pointed her finger at several clones explaining the meaning behind _those triangles_ and _these dots_ on their helmets - markings of higher ranked officials - and their connections to Jedi Order. Of course, Ahsoka left the rest of correlations to her boss.

The sheer though of more exquisite clientele, as commanders and capitans were just a stone throw away from Jedi who were just as away from _senators,_ dignitaries and others of their kind, lit Okrasa'a spirit.

"I… I mean there are billions of clone troopers out there; even if they pay two, three credits less we'll still make a profit nonetheless… by the sheer number. 79's has such discounts and their business is boosting out of the seams. Not to mention senate might grant us a tax relief based on the security act-"

"how do you know all that?" Ahsoka's boss eyed her suspiciously.

"I just…" Ahsoka stammered, searching for words "I had a friend who worked at the senate… on GAR affairs."

"I see…"

"hey! Barista! One cup of caf please" Ahsoka froze; she could recognize that timbre of voice anywhere.

With that request, the teenager was hurried back to work. She opened a fresh bag of caf beans and poured them to a dispenser. The machine whirred and whizzed as it was grinding the beans to the powder. For the first time since leaving the order, the ex-Jedi felt happy about her life as a civilian.

"One caf – as dark as the dark side of the Force and sweet as glucose-based pastries of Tipoca City - coming right up!" She took a white mug from the shelf and placed it under the caf dispenser. "it's still your favourite I presume! Hm? Rexter"

"Ahsoka?!" Rex exclaimed with a fake surprise "I didn't recognize you! You've gotten old!"

"have to happen some time, Rex" Ahsoka replied, rolling her eyes "what took you so long?"

"ah, you know" Rex made a vague gesture in the air.

"sounds important"


End file.
